Machines for wrapping block-like articles



Sept. 24, 1968 A. SCHMERMUND MACHINES FOR WRAPPING BLOCKLIKE ARTICLESFiled Sept. 29, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 4mm wmem y- 0mm Q arr-amen m 0 w mm Sept.v 1968 A. SCHMERMUND 3,402,528

MACHINES FOR WRAPPING BLOCK-LIKE ARTICLES Filed Sept. 29, 1965 5Sheets-Sheet 2 a? V/f /7/%!, 1 Fig.5

Sept. '24, 1968 A. SCHMERMUND 3,402,523

MACHINES FOR WRAPPING BLOCK-LIKE ARTICLES Filed Sept. 29, 1965 5Sheets-Sheet 5 /4 I3 v 12' /a 20 U IN VENTO R: ALFRE D SUI/15R mnvbfirramveys A. SCHMERMUND MACHINES FOR WRAPPING BLOCK-LIKE ARTICLES Sept.24, 1968 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Sept. 29, 1965 mum mvewran: ALFRED same?mm: B M (M ATivmvq S p 1968 A. SCHMERMUND 3,402,528

MACHINES FOR WRAPPING BLOCK-LIKE ARTICLES Filed Sept 29, 1965 5Sheets-Sheet 5 Fig.9

United States Patent 3,402,528 MACHINES FOR WRAPPING BLOCK-LIKE ARTICLESAlfred Schmermund, 62 Kornerstrasse, Gevelsberg,

Westphalia, Germany Filed Sept. 29, 1965, Ser. No. 491,124

Claims priority, application Germany, Oct. 21, 1964,

Sch 35,991 7 Claims. (Cl. 53230) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A machine isdescribed for wrapping block-like articles, for example blocks ofcigarettes. The machine comprises a first push-member for feeding ablock-like member past a feed path for wrapping material into a cellwith the wrapping material partly Wrapped around the block-like member,the cell having a top wall and a bottom wall, means for moving the cellwith the block-like member therein downwards, a second push-member forremoving the block-like member from the cell and means for moving thetop wall and the bottom wall separately upwards, the top wall beingmoved first and the bottom wall being moved subsequently. Thereby, thewrapping process is accelerated since feeding of a next block-likemember into the cell can begin as soon as the top wall has reached itsuppermost position and before the bottom wall has reached its uppermostposition. Folding members are provided for completing the wrappingduring the movement of the block-like member.

Disclosure of the invention The invention relates to machines forwrapping blocklike articles, for example cigarette blocks or block-likeassemblies of cigarette blocks.

It is an object of the invention to provide means for accelerating thewrapping process as compared with similar known means.

The invention consists in a machine for wrapping blocklike articles,comprising a first push member for feeding a block-like article along afirst feed path, a cell having a bottom wall and a top wall beingarranged for receiving the article after it has been fed beyond a secondfeed path for wrapping material, the second feed path extendingtransversely to the first feed path, means being provided forreciprocating the cell in a substantially vertical direction for movingthe article to a lower level than that of the first feed path, a secondpush member being provided for removing the article from the cell andmoving it along a third feed path at the lower level.

To make the invention clearly understood reference will now be made tothe accompanying drawings which are given by way of example and inwhich:

FIG. 1 shows an elevational view, partly in section, of a wrappingmachine of the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a section along the line II-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a section along the line IIIIII of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows a section along the line IV-IV of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 shows a section along the line VV of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 6 and 7 show details of the machine in different workingpositions;

FIG. 8 shows a modified machine of the invention; and

FIG. 9 shows a section along the line IXIX of FIG. 1.

The machine illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 7 and 9 serves for wrapping blocksof cigarettes in transparent plastics sheet material. The machinecomprises a channel 2 for cigarette blocks 3, the walls of the channel 2being held by bars of a machine frame (not shown). The blocks 3 areinserted into the channel 2 manually or by a suitable supply deviceknown per se. The blocks 3 leave the channel 2 at its lower end where aslide 1 is provided having a stepped part 1a. The slide 1 is mounted ona slide holder 51 guided by guide rods 52 of which only one is visiblein the drawings. The guide rods 52 are mounted on transverse bars 53 and0f the machine frame. A pivot 83 links an operating rod to the slideholder 51. A lever 86 is connected to the pull rod by a pivot 84, thelever 86 being linked by a pivot 89 to the machine frame. The lever 86is turnable about the pivot 89 by a rod 88 linked to the lever 86 by apivot 87.

A retaining bar 90 having a finger 90a is turnable downwards about aspindle 91 under the action of gravity when such turning movement is notimpeded. At the transitional region between the bar 90 and the finger90a, a step is formed.

A web 4 of wrapping material is fed to the machine in a manner known perse. Suitable lengths of wrapping material are cut from the web 4 by acutter 7 mounted on a rotatable roller 6 mounted on a shaft '9, thecutter 7 co-operating with a counter-roller 5 mounted on a shaft 8.Transverse bars 96 and 97 of the machine frame hold guidemeans 92 and 93which define a feed path for the lengths of wrapping material.

Guides 10 and 10' are provided adjacent to the wrapping material whenpresent and at its side remote from the channel 2, the guides 10 and 10defining part of a feed path for articles to be wrapped and serving tobend the length of Wrapping material around part of each article as thearticle passes through the feed path for the wrapping material, which,when seen sideways, assumes the shape of a U. Each article is movedhorizontally from the channel 2 along its feed path, passes the feedpath for the length of the wrapping material, and moves along its feedpath between the guides 10 and 10'. A cell having a bottom wall 11 and atop wall 12 is vertically movable, the uppermost position of the cellbeing indicated by broken lines at 11 and 12', its lowermost positionbeing indicated by full lines. When the cell is at its uppermostposition 11', 12 it receives an article when arriving, since in suchuppermost position 11, 12' the bottom and top walls of the cell arealigned with the guides 10 and 10'. FIG. 3 illustrates further detailsof the cell. The top wall 12 is mounted on guided rods 68 which areslidable in twin guides 66 and are inter-connected by a transverse bar72 to which a rod 74 is pivotally connected at 73, the rod 74 beingreciprocatable by a suitable cam arrangement not shown. The guides 66are mounted on bars 65 of the machine frame.

The bottom wall 11 of the cell is slotted into two parts, each part ofthe bottom wall 11 being mounted on a guide rod 67, the guide rods 67sliding in the twin guides 66 and being inter-connected by a transversebar 71 to which a rod 69 is pivotally connected at 70, the rod 69 beingreciprocatable by a suitable cam arrangement not shown. On the parts ofthe bottom wall 11, at each side thereof folding blocks 19 are fixed forfolding corner parts of the upper portion of the folding material whilethe article moves through the cell, as will be explained further below.From FIGS. 1 and 3, it will be noted that about centrally of the cellfurther folding blocks 18 are provided which are mounted on the top wall12 of the cell. It is not absolutely necessary to mount the foldingblocks 18 and 19 in the manner just described, but this kind of mountingis advantageous as will be explained further below. As can be seen fromFIG. 1, the folding blocks 18, 19 do not extend through the entirelength of the cell.

On a transverse bar 14 of the machine frame a wall 13 is provided whichcloses the cell when in its uppermost position and thus forms anabutment for the article when introduced into the cell. To a holdingmember of the machine frame, levers 98 are pivoted, which form part of aparallelogram arrangement. A folding member is pivoted to the levers 98.The levers 98 and therewith the folding member 20 are movable by a pullrod 101. The folding member 20 is provided at the rear of the cell. Theguide 10 is provided with a depending guide wall 21 in which an electricheating member 22 is inserted. An edge 21a between the guide 10 and thedepending wall 21 assists in the folding of the wrapping material aswell be explained further below.

Adjacent the cell when in its lowermost position, a folding member 94 isprovided which has a laterally extending folding finger 26 which canenter the cell from the rear (see also FIG. 4). The folding member 94 ismounted on guide rods 55 slidable in guides 54 mounted on a transversebar 53 of the machine frame. The guide rods 55 are linked by means of alink 56 to an operating rod 58 pivoted at 57 to the link 56 and pivotedat 59 to a lever 95 which is pivoted to the machine frame at 62 and isconnected to an operating rod 61 by a pivot 60.

A push member 23 is provided which can enter the cell through the slotin the bottom wall 11 when the cell is in its lowermost position (seealso FIG. 3). The push member 23 is mounted on a guide member 24slidable along a guide rod 25 attached to transverse bars 99 and 102 ofthe machine frame. The guide member 24 is prevented from rotation by anelement 63 attached thereto, the element 63 being slidable in a guiderail 64. The element 63 carries a spindle '76 to which a rod 75 ispivotally connected which by means of a pivotal connection 77 is linkedto a lever 78 which is pivoted at 81 to the machine frame and operableby an operating rod 80.

When the cell is in its lowermost position, top and bottom walls 15 and16 form a further feed path for the article to be wrapped, the furtherfeed path being aligned with the cell. Preferably the wall 15 is made inone piece and held by the wall 13. The wall 16 is mounted on atransverse bar 46 of the machine frame. Furthermore, a folding member 17is provided for folding the lower part of the wrapping material upwards.The bottom wall 16 has a slot (see FIG. 9) so that the push member 23can enter such slot, whereby it is possible for the push member 23 tomove the article directly onto a platform 27 for moving the wrappedarticle upwards as will be explained further below. Thereby, it isachieved that each individual article is pushed onto the platform 27 bythe push member 23; it is thus not necessary that an article has to pushanother article in front of it.

The platfrom 27 is mounted on a guide rod 38 slidable in a guide 36mounted on a transverse bar 37 of the machine frame. By means of aflange 50, a connecting member 39 is attached to the guide rod 38. Anoperating rod 41 which is movable by a cam not shown is pivotally linkedby a spindle to the connecting member 39. The guide 36 carries pivotalspindles 35 (see FIG. 2) pivotally holding levers 33 having fingers 33afor supporting wrapped articles 3 when moved upwards by the platform 27.The levers 33 have laterally arranged limbs 47 to which operating rods49 are pivoted at 48. Above the platform 27, a channel is provided forwrapped articles. The channel has a stationary wall 42 fixed to atransverse rod 43 of the machine frame. The upper portions 44 and 45 ofthe remaining walls of the channel are also stationary, whereas thelower Wall portions 29 of the channel are movable sideways by means oflever arrangements 31 operable, in known manner, by operating rods 32.In the lower wall portions 29 heating plates 30 are provided for sealingthe wrapping material around the articles under heat. In the lower wallportions 29, perforations 34 are provided through which the fingers 33aextend. The lower margins 28 of the lower wall portions 29 are roundedoff as shown in FIG. 2 for facilitating the entrance of wrapped articlesinto the channel.

The machine described operates as follows, reference being also made toFIGS. 6 and 7.

The block-like articles 3 which are to be wrapped are positioned in thechannel 2 from which they are removed singly one by one by the slide 1and its stepped parts 1a. All the movable parts of the machine areoperated in timed relationship to one another by means of cams in amanner known per se. Each article 3 is first moved out of the channel 2by means of the stepped part 1a, the retaining bar with its finger 90aengaging the article when in the position 3a so that the slide 1 and itsstepped part 1a can return to their initial position shown in FIG. 1,the article being held in the position 3a by the step between the finger90a and the bar 90. When the slide 1 has returned the article dropsdownwards from the positions 3a into the position 3b and now lies infront of the slide 1. On the next stroke of the slide 1 the article ismoved forwards from position 3b into the cell, which is in its uppermostposition indicated by the broken lines 11' and 12 and assumes theposition 30 within the cell, While travelling from position 3b toposition 30 the article encounters a length of Wrapping material, andmoves beyond the feed path of the wrapping material which thereby isfolded around the article in U-shape by the guides 10 and 10. While thearticle is introduced into the cell, the folding blocks 18 and 19, whichare in the position 18 and 19', fold the wrapping material at theleading end of the article. Subsequently, the folding member 20 descendsand turns the upper adjacent part of the wrapping material downwards.While the folding member 20 descends the cell is moved downwards, sothat its bottom and top walls 11, 12 are in the position shown in fulllines, the article being now in the position 3d. While the article movesfrom position 30 to position 3d, the guide wall 21 and the edge 21a foldthe lower part of the wrapping at the rear of the article upwards. Theheating member 22 seals the wrapping material at the rear.

In the position 3d, the folding finger 26 folds the rear parts of thewrapping material at the corner and at the top. Simultaneously, the pushmember 23 moves forward and pushes the article from its position 3d outof the cell into the further feed path between the walls 15 and 16,Where the folding member 17 folds the lower lateral portions of thewrapping material upwards. When the push member 23 has left the slot inthe bottom wall 11 of the cell for moving the article along the furtherfeed path, the upwards movement of the cell starts while the push member23 returns underneath the cell. Thereby a considerable gain of time canbe obtained. The push member 23 moves the article into a position 3e onthe platform 27 which is now lifted and thereby lifts all the articlesin the second channel. In a maner known per se, the lower wall portions29 and the fingers 33a of the channel are moved sideways.

A particular advantage is obtained by moving the bottom wall 11 and thetop wall 12 of the cell separately upwards. FIG. 6 illustrates themovements of the parts of the cell. First, the top wall reaches itsuppermost position 12' so that movement of the next article 3 by meansof the push member 1 can begin. Subsequently, after a delay, the bottomwall 11 reaches its uppermost position 11. The bottom wall should reachits upper position when the leading end of the article reaches the-fo1ding member 19. When the article has been fully inserted into thecell both walls 11 and 12 move jointly downwards as hereinbeforedescribed. As soon as the push member 23 has removed to the rear of thearticle out of the region of the folding blocks 18, upwards movement ofthe top wall 12 begins as illustrated in FIG. 7. When the article hasbeen completely ejected from the cell, the bottom wall 11 is movedupwards. The control of the movement of the bottom wall 11 and the topwall 12 may, for example, be effected in the maner known per se bycontrol cams which become effective at different times. By such anarrangement a considerable reduction of time is obtained for a completecycle of movements of the cell since the insertion of an article intothe cell begins before the bottom wall has completed its upwardmovement. Since the total mass of the cell has been divided in two andthe two walls are accelerated successively, the maximum value of theforces required is reduced.

FIG. 8 shows a modification of a machine for wrapping a composite blockof individual block-like articles. The composite blocks 203 are fed bymeans of a conveyor 202. A slide 201 pushes the blocks into the cellwhen in the position 211', 212. Wrapping material 204 is fed betweenguides 293 and 292 forming a feed path for the wrapping material whichis folded by the guides 210, 210 into U-slrape.

When the article has been inserted into the cell it is in the position203a after the folding blocks 219 in the position 219' have becomeeffective. However, the movable folding member 220 and the guide wall221 are provided. In the lowermost position of the cell With the bottomwall 211 and top wall 212 the article assumes the position 2031) and islocated in front of the guide rod 225 and its push member 223. On atransverse member 294, folding members 226 are provided for folding thematerial at the rear of the article. The bottom wall 211 and the topwall 212 of the cell are mounted on guide rods 267 and 268. In the feedpath between the walls 215 and 21 6, the folding members 217 and 217aare provided for folding the wrapping material at the top. Along thefeed path between the walls 215, 216 an article pushes articles in frontof it until they reach the position 2030 on the platform 227 mounted onthe guide rod 238. The platform 227 moves the article along a guide wall229. The articles reach the position 203d and are removed by a furtherpush member. It is believed that the operation of the modified machinedoes not need any further detailed description.

It should be clearly understood that the embodiments of the inventionhereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings aregiven by Way of example only. Many modifications, omissions andadditions are possible without departing from the spirit of thisinvention.

I claim:

1. A machine for wrapping block-like articles, comprising a first pushmember for feeding a block-like article along a first feed path, a cellfor receiving said article after it has been fed beyond a second feedpath for Wrapping material, said cell including a bottom wall and a topwall, said second feed path extending transversely to said first feedpath, means for reciprocating said cell in a substantially verticaldirection for moving said article to a lower level than that of saidfirst feed path, a second push member for removing said article fromsaid cell and moving it along a third feed path at said lower level andfirst means for moving said bottom wall of said cell, and

second means for moving said top wall of said cell separately from saidbottom wall from said third feed path to said first feed path.

2. A machine for wrapping block-like articles, comprising a first pushmember for feeding a block-like article alonga first feed path, a cellfor receiving said article after it has been fed beyond a second feedpath for wrapping material, said cell including a bottom Wall and a topwall, said second feed path extending transversely to said first feedpath, means for reciprocating said cell in a substantially verticaldirection for moving said article to a lower level than that of saidfirst feed path, and a second push member for removing said article fromsaid cell and moving it along a third feed path at said lower level,said bottom wall of said cell and said top wall of said cell beingseparately movable from said third feed path to said first feed path bytwo guide rods and two operating rods, said bottom wall being movable byone of said guide rods and one of said operating rods, and said top wallbeing movable by the other one of said guide rods and said operatingrods.

3. A machine as defined in claim 2, and comprising blocks in said cellfor folding wrapping material at the leading end of said article onreaching said cell, wherein one of said blocks is carried by said bottomWall of said cell, another one of said blocks being carried by said topwall of said cell.

4. A machine as defined in claim 3, and comprising a finger and a leverarrangement, said finger being arranged adjacent said cell when in itslowermost position for folding the wrapping material at the rear end ofsaid article, said finger being movable by said lever arrangement toenter said cell while in the lowermost position.

5. A machine as defined in claim 4, and comprising a further fingerarranged adjacent said cell when in its uppermost position for foldingan upper portion of the wrapping material, said further finger beingreciprocatable in a substantially vertical direction.

6. A machine as defined in claim 5, and comprising a further walladjacent said cell.

7. A machine as defined in claim 5, and comprising heating meansprovided in said further guide wall.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,466,814 9/1923 De Escobales53-223 3,253,387 5/1966 Schmermund 53-234 FOREIGN PATENTS 408,813 4/1934 Great Britain.

TRAVIS S. MCGEHEE, Primary Examiner. R. L. SPRUILL, Assistant Examiner.

